In one -word this book is a ‘masterpiece’. And as a few of the reviewers have already said, Ashwin Sanghi can be touted as India’s answer to Dan Brown.

Taking ahead my renewed interest in theology, I had come across this book on a recommendation and it definitely did not disappoint. The protagonist is a History professor Ravi Mohan Saini who is accidentally dragged into a myriad journey of Murder charge of his childhood friend Anil Varshney. The latter had managed to decipher the script of Indus Valley seals. Saini is set on a journey to clear his name and hereon begins the unraveling of the secrets of the past of Hindu mythology. As expected, most of the areas are grey and he inadvertently lands up on the quest to expose an ancient secret which happens to be Krishna’s priceless legacy to mankind. The breathless rush from across the archaeological remains to the mysterious Somnath to the ice covered picturesque Kailash to finally the monument signifying the epitome of love, Saini goes through the tumultuous experience to delve into the mystery. Its actually a race against time to prevent the gross miscarriage of justice.

Whenever a book of such a magnitude is written there is always a danger of over fictionalization. However, while the author manages to keep you glued through out with the beautiful convergence of Krishna’s life and his plots from the current time, he also showers you with a wealth of information. It was indeed a treat to learn different interpretations of the ancient scriptures which we often take at face value and let go of the underlying philosophy. Ashwin’s research is par excellence and as a reader I loved how he manged to blur the line between his conspiracy fiction and the apparent facts. The time travel has been done with amazing accuracy and the reader yearns for more at the end of every chapter…

I specially loved the number of chapters (108) and the significance mentioned very often through out the book. Each character in the story has been given dedicated space without any crossovers or treading of toes.

On the flip side, I found numerous elements repeat themselves when explained by the protagonist camp and later by the antagonist ones. This could have been avoided… However given the kind of information overload, probably the author wanted readers of every caliber to enjoy the story without having to flip pages back and forth.

I now look forward to read the others on his list!

Available on Amazon in all formats.